The Cost of Climbing Gear

I was at the shop the other day when I noticed the new CAMP Matik. Cool device I thought. Then I looked at the price tag. $200 MSRP for a fake GriGri? Get out of here... But the Matik is not the only overpriced piece of gear out there. Now the 5th gen Camalots are supposedly going to be upwards of $100 each. It seems like some manufacturers raise the price of an item simply because it's the newest, latest, greatest thing and therefore should be more expensive than the older version.

BD did bring the manufacture of those new cams back to the US, hence the price hike.

And the dyneema core raises the price as well - pound for pound, it's both stronger and more expensive than steel. It's also less durable, but that's a different story.

Vote with your dollars.

BD manufacturing is being brought back to the US.
They will retail for about $20 over the same size C4.
They raise the price to recoup the costs of R&D and a whole host of other reasons.
They cost what they cost. Either buy them or don't.

The dyneema is totally protected by a plastic sleeve.
Touch one and you will want them.

what is special about the Matik is that, or at least CAMP claims, it lets a little bit of rope slip through, so it is slightly dynamic, unlike the gri which is virtually static.

Holy crap. 200 for a grigri clone? That's insane.

The cost of gear is high since it's specialized and can vary in manufacturing costs and techniques. I personally love DMM's gear. I know a comparable item costs 10% more over BD but I'm willing to pay for the UK made, hot forged manufacturing and quality.

I think the volume of sales aren't there to lower costs on that front even with a ton of competition.

eli poss wrote:what is special about the Matik is that, or at least CAMP claims, it lets a little bit of rope slip through, so it is slightly dynamic, unlike the gri which is virtually static.

Personally I find that to be a drawback, but opinions aside, there are a ton of devices that do that. The Mammut Smart does the exact same thing and it's only $30.

yes but, as the smart doesn't use a cam, it's braking capabilities are highly rope/carabiner dependent and it is much easier to accidentally have it in a non-auto-locking orientation.

that being said, i love my alpine smarts (both of them) and have a friend who speaks highly of the single rope smart.

on the other hand, the matik appears to be much more shiny so it will look much better in your selfies at the gym.

20 kN wrote:I was at the shop the other day when I noticed the new CAMP Matik. Cool device I thought. Then I looked at the price tag. $200 MSRP for a fake GriGri? Get out of here... But the Matik is not the only overpriced piece of gear out there. Now the 5th gen Camalots are supposedly going to be upwards of $100 each. It seems like some manufacturers raise the price of an item simply because it's the newest, latest, greatest thing and therefore should be more expensive than the older version.

So don't buy it. You don't have to whine, you can just vote with your wallet.

The Camp Matik is a great device IF you use a 9.5mm rope or lower. The Matik feeds horrible and locks on the lower constantly if you use a 10mm or thicker. Now if you rock a 9.1mm and are falling 800 times before you get the moves down on that 5.12... It's the bomb!

BTW.. I enjoy all the comments from MFers that have never used one. Mountain Project HA!

Cool. Try to find just the materials to make yourself a knock off Gri-Gri for less than $200. Much less the CAD drawing, the machinery, the tooling, the testing and then try to market it and sell it. Climbing gear isn't making anyone rich

The CAMP Matik also has that handy anti-panic function if you pull the lever too much.

bearded sam wrote:Cool. Try to find just the materials to make yourself a knock off Gri-Gri for less than $200.

Okay, the aluminum for the side plates and lever - mcmaster.com/#8885k861/=ynddj4 - $15.00

Now the stainless for the cam - mcmaster.com/#88775k31/=yndf20 - $45.00

add a couple of bucks for the fasteners and I think I found the materials for well under $200 using McMaster which is not anywhere near the least expensive place for sourcing materials. If I went to the material manufacturers and bought in bulk I'm sure you could get the raw materials for making a knock off Gri-Gri for less than $20.

However, you are correct that the machinery, tooling, and testing are going to cost a pretty penny.

eli poss wrote:yes but, as the smart doesn't use a cam, it's braking capabilities are highly rope/carabiner dependent and it is much easier to accidentally have it in a non-auto-locking orientation. that being said, i love my alpine smarts (both of them) and have a friend who speaks highly of the single rope smart. on the other hand, the matik appears to be much more shiny so it will look much better in your selfies at the gym.

Faders Sum is slightly dynamic and a little less than Gri-Gri. To me, the draw of the Matik would be the lockup if the cam is released too hard.

So if we take into count the cost of tooling, machinery, etc, could you actually 3D print a gri-gri type device that would work in a climbing environment, ie take the loads under a fall. Food for thought....

Paul MG wrote:So if we take into count the cost of tooling, machinery, etc, could you actually 3D print a gri-gri type device that would work in a climbing environment, ie take the loads under a fall. Food for thought....

Not with the current 3-d printing technology. Maybe someday, but we're still at least a good 10 years away from being there.

i generally use beer as my index for the evolution of costs. if you look at how much a camalot cost in the late 80's/early 90's (i think they were like $58.95) compared to now ($70'ish, but for sake of argument let's call it $100) - you'll see that the price change over this time period is pretty low. beer on the other hand....

Bill Kirby wrote:The Camp Matik is a great device IF you use a 9.5mm rope or lower. The Matik feeds horrible and locks on the lower constantly if you use a 10mm or thicker. Now if you rock a 9.1mm and are falling 800 times before you get the moves down on that 5.12... It's the bomb! BTW.. I enjoy all the comments from MFers that have never used one. Mountain Project HA!

I have belayed with it and wasn't stoke how you feed out rope fast. You really have to hold your hand weirdly to prevent it from locking.

Micah Klesick wrote:BD did bring the manufacture of those new cams back to the US, hence the price hike.

I bet that has more to do w/ the rising cost of manufacturing in China...they sure as hell didn't lower the price when they moved the manufacturing to China.

reboot wrote: I bet that has more to do w/ the rising cost of manufacturing in China...they sure as hell didn't lower the price when they moved the manufacturing to China.

Im sure that Petzls experience of moving manufacturing to china (unauthorized stuff that was absolutely indistinguishable but far inferior quality/failing strengths) had a lot to do with it as well.

dpmclimbing.com/articles/vi…

bearded sam wrote: Climbing gear isn't making anyone rich

Black Diamond is a $250 million company. Hell even that climbx scumbag is probably rich.